The invention relates to an optical substrate with modulated structures on its surface. The optical substrate can be a light modulating substrate of a flat panel display backlight, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) backlight.
A backlight illuminates a liquid crystal based display panel to provide a uniformly intense light distribution over the entire plane of the LCD display panel. A backlight system typically incorporates a light pipe to couple light energy from a light source to the LCD panel. An array of diffusing elements can be disposed along one surface of the light pipe to scatter incident light rays toward an output plane. The output plane couples the light rays into and through the LCD panel. The backlight can use a light modulating optical substrate with prismatic or textured structures to direct light along a viewing axis, usually normal to the display and to spread illumination over a viewer space. The backlight can use a plurality of optical substrates, stacked and arranged so that the prismatic or textured surfaces are perpendicular to one another and are sandwiched between optical modifying films known as diffusers. The brightness enhancement optical substrate and diffuser film combinations enhance the brightness of the light viewed by a user and reduce the display power required to produce a target illumination level.
It may be advantageous to modulate the structural order of an optical substrate to hide manufacturing defects and to decrease optical coupling interference such as Moiré interference. For example, copending patent application Ser. No. 10/248,099, filed Dec. 18, 2002 discloses modulating a prism structure of an optical substrate from a nominal linear path in a lateral direction (direction perpendicular to the height) by applying a nonrandom, random (or pseudo random) amplitude and period texture. The disclosure of application Ser. No. 10/248,099 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Application Ser. No. 10/248,099 discloses a method which reduces interference Moiré effects. However, for a given nominal texture pitch, a peak to valley depth of the structures which have been modulated is approximately 100% greater than for the un-modulated structure of the same pitch. The greater peak to valley depth for the modulated structures may require a greater overall device thickness to preserve mechanical integrity. The nominal texture pitch is the center to center distance between adjacent structures, such as prisms, on the substrate, the peak to valley depth is the difference between peak and valley.
There is a need for an optical structure on light managed substrate with reduced interference and with preserved mechanical integrity.